A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has concluded that participation in a sexual assault resistance program lowered the risk of rape for female first-year university students by nearly 50%. The randomized controlled trial, conducted with participants from the University of Calgary, the University of Guelph, and the University of Windsor, concluded that the risk of rape for the 451 women randomly assigned to receive the program was about 5%; for the 442 women in the control group, who received only brochures and a brief information session, the risk was 10%. “Only 22 women would need to take the program in order to prevent one additional rape from occurring within one year,” the authors concluded. However, lead author Charlene Y Senn of uWindsor added that “the long-term solution is to reduce [women's] need to defend themselves.” Globe and Mail | New York Times | Guelph Mercury | Full Study